Who builds the elegant gondolas of Venice?
The squero (gondola yard) in the photograph is located in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice. Gondola-makers tended to come from the Dolomiti mountains, where the best wood was to be found. The boathouse and adjoining outbuildings, while seemingly out of place in Venice, are good examples of Alpine domestic architecture. Here you will find the Gondola repair shops. If you are at all interested in the traditional Venetian Gondola and its elegant construction you may catch the artisans at work and witness their dying art.
You may also wish to visit Squero Canaletto established by an American Thom Price following his year of study in Venice, learning to build the gondola. He realized that there was a great need to continue building gondolas and to have a place where other people from around the world could come and learn Venetian boatbuilding, as he did thereby establishing an International Center for Traditional Boatbuilding.
Squero Canaletto
Calle de Squero 6301
Rio dei Mendicanti
Cannaregio
30131 Venice (VE)
p. +39 041 241 3963
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